Achieving States’ Goals for All-Payer Claims Databases
All-payer claims databases (APCDs) have value but they also pose challenges with data collection and use, such as privacy concerns, potential disclosure of proprietary data, and unknown validity of the data collected. Greater collaboration between states and plans can help support states’ goals for APCDs.
Many states are establishing APCDs to collect data from private and public payers and make it available to third parties for a variety of research and data transparency activities. In some states, payers are required to submit data, while in other states submission is voluntary.
States’ goals for APCDs vary and include: informing health policy decisions, supporting delivery and payment reforms, and increasing transparency of healthcare data. However, realization of these goals is hampered by a number of challenges that result in incomplete data collection (e.g., not all payers submit data), variation in state reporting requirements, and misalignment with other data collection programs and efforts.
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